1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to circuit breakers, more particularly, relates to a changeable operation mechanism of a circuit breaker.
2. The Related Art
Circuit Breakers are common equipments among low-voltage electrical devices. Circuit breakers include Molded case Circuit Breakers (MCBs) and Air Circuit Breakers (ACBs). Generally, MCBs use manual operation mechanisms and do not have remote operation ability. When remote operation is required, an additional electrical operation mechanism shall be installed to the MCB, the electrical operation mechanism includes an energy storage mechanism and an energy storage motor. Such an electrical operation mechanism is usually installed outside the body of the MCB, so that the height and volume of the MCB is increased. The additional electrical operation mechanism increases the cost of the MCB as well. ACBs usually use electrical operation mechanisms as internal components. The electrical operation mechanism is installed within the shell of the ACB, which will not increase the height and volume of the ACB. The entire cost of ACB is also lower than the cost of a sum of the MCB and the additional electrical operation mechanism.
In actual applications, it is often required that the circuit breakers have both manual operation function and electrical operation function. Therefore, ACBs which only have the electrical operation mechanism are not applicable because ACBs are not able to have the manual operation function. For MCBs, an additional electrical operation is required when the electrical operation function is necessary, which is an obvious disadvantage in usage convenience and usage cost.